Marie Grace Designs

Tater's jammies...

A repeat of one of my very favorite patterns from Favorite Things.

  

Pattern: Little Sleep Well

Size: 5/6

Fabric: From the fabric stash cabinet. Tops are cotton, bottoms are linen blends.

Modifications: Added length to sleeves. Added contrast cuff to one set of pants just for fun. Other than that I just follow the pattern.

She chose the buttons... the only 3 purple ones she could find in the button box...

 

Pressed and top-stitched...

 

The second set...

 

Edge finishing, facings, and top-stitching... all nice and neat... everything comes together perfectly.

 

I always add a little "tag" to the back of pants so Tater knows the back from the front...

 

I'd like to make a few more sets for the other kids and even the adult version for Mac Daddy and myself. We'll see what our holiday "vacation" brings.

 

 
 
  
 

Sunday morning monsters...

Apparently the morning started out with Tater and the boys playing some sort of game in which Tater played the part of a monster. This monster had a lair (the closet) and for some reason was in her lair waiting for the boys but the boys were distracted by something (probably food) and wandered off without telling her. 30 minutes later the boys come downstairs laughing about "not waking the sleeping monster"... Tater had fallen asleep on the floor of the closet...

 

All I can say is pity those boys. When she wakes up she is going to be MAD. 

Snow is falling steady. Kids are playing Wii. All pieces are cut for 2 sets of jammies. So far my evil sew-all-day plan is working.

 

Today's mission...

There are lots of snowflakes inside and outside. I have banished the kids from the dining room, bribed them with cookies, and made my stand.

Today's mission... jammies!

 

Why am I making jammies on this snowy, snowy day? Why am I not sewing those smocked panels together and weaving in all the ends on that sweater? Why, because this child...

 

has the arms of an orangutan and insists she is going to freeze to death because her wrists are sticking out. I figure this is one of those times that can be counted as sewing that NEEDS to be done, for the welfare of the child and all. 

So, since there's already cookies and bread made and chili simmering away in the crockpot, today's mission is 2 sets of jammies with extra long sleeves. I have all day to sew. All day to make pretty jammies. All day!

But you know these things never go as planned. After all I am stuck in the house with children and one large child-like man-person. I was already derailed once this morning. See, I tricked the kids by buying frozen waffles. This meant they made their own breakfasts and disappeared with hardly a look in my direction. The man-person on the other hand stuck around waiting for a real cooked breakfast and I had to ply him with bacon and eggs and a bagel. Then I had to clean up the mess the kids made along with their frozen waffles. And load the dishwasher. And feed the dog.

Anyway... since I've been such a bad and neglectful blogger and today is such a good day to be in the house and sew and knit and eat cookies and send the kids out to clean all the now off my truck I just may post a few times today. I'm going to need some way to keep in touch with the outside world. And I need somebody to witness either my successful jammie mission or somebody to be my alibi when it all goes horribly wrong.

Happy snow day!

Psssttt.... who's all on Facebook? There's lots of sewing and knitterly people there.

 

 

So maybe...

So maybe I should be weaving in the ends of embroidery bits on that sweater and maybe I should be sewing together those smocked panels and maybe I could measure that swatch and write down what size needles I used before I forget.

But instead... I am making cookies...

 

Let's face it... as much as I love wool and smocked stitches they just don't just taste that good.

We're also expecting a pretty substantial snowfall and I am absolutely sure it will be more enjoyable to be stuck in the house with a bunch of kids if there are cookies involved. For them and for me.

And I suppose you can consider that your sneak peek of a new design. I know its been a while and really at this point I'm feeling more like a wanna-be designer than anything but ya know... stuff happens. The new one is for girls, is top-down and seamless, and of course has a bit of embroidery. This particular sample is intended for Tater to wear with her holiday dress... if I get it finished in time.

 

Seriously...

That bread book has changed my life.

I am a successful bread baker for the first time EVER! 

I have even graduated to sweet breads and made a fabulous pecan caramel sticky-bun thinger last night. 

We are all going to look like a bunch of bread-stuffed bears by the time winter is over.

I totally planned to show pictures of my pecan masterpiece but alas... this is all that remains...

 

and I am going to eat it as soon as I'm done typing this. 

Then I'm going to take FlyBoy to the doctor as his eyeballs are a funny shade of red and he looks like he's been on a bender. Not to mention that he sounds like he's snorkeling. This will be the 3rd kid I've taken to the doctor in 2 weeks. The skin is coming off my knitting hands due to all the bleach I've been cleaning with around here and if one more kid coughs on me I'm going to gargle with Lysol.

Did I mention I also need to mass-produce cookies today because its my night to help out at the Christmas Walk at the lake tonight? I love the Christmas Walk. I love handing out cookies and cocoa and hanging out with the kids but I feel like crap and want to stay home where its warm and dry and there is pecan bread stuff. Cough, cough.

Off we go...

 

Brought to you by the letter "S"...

S is for snow, slop, slush, sneezing, and sinus (infections).

 

The snow, slop, and slush fell from the sky last night in adequate amounts to make the morning miserable. Not light, fluffy, pretty snow... just wet, heavy, cold, yuck. A 2 hour school delay followed by a wet hike to do barn chores and then mopping the floor inside the house thanks to one big wet dog.

The girls are both home today as they've both been diagnosed with sinus infections and are quite miserable. We'll be having hot soup for lunch.

 

On the crafting front... I had really good intentions of having a post chock full of smocking today but I'm a bit behind. So today, in between making soup, reading stories with Tater, and trying to dry off the dog, I'll be making another attempt at getting this stuff together. See I'm sort of wing'in this project as I go which generally speaking is a bad idea but what the heck.

 

While we're on the subject of smocking Katy had a question...

"How do you mark a full width of fabric by hand? My ruler and mat are only about 18" long, which works fine for the 10" sample, but not so well for a 45" width of broadcloth that the Christmas ornament pattern I found calls for smocking." 

Well, the particular project I'm working on now is a full width of cotton fabric and the answer to the question is.... do it in sections. My mat and quilt ruler are 24" so I fold my piece of fabric in half wrong side out (side edges together). Put a few pins in the side edges to keep them from shifting. Mark the long horizontal lines on one half of the fabric and then carefully flip the fabric over and mark the other half being really careful to measure carefully so the lines will meet perfectly at the center fold. 

Once all the horizontal lines are marked begin making the vertical lines working from the center fold out toward the side edges. Count the center fold as a line.

I hope that makes sense. Maybe towards spring when we're all dreaming about little summer smocked dresses I'll do a tutorial for a full size pattern.

I'm off to warm some soup and settle in front of the sewing machine...

Good morning...

Good morning fuzzy family. How are all of you this morning?

 

We're fine! What a delightfully chilly day!

Yes it is a chilly morning. Say, how are you all getting along with the new guy?

New guy? What do you mean? There's no new guy.

Sure there is... he's right there!

 

 Where? Ack! What is that!?! Is it a monster? Its big and tall and has crazy bangs! Its Nessy with fur! Oh its gonna eat us! Run!

Um... guys? 

 

Well... its always something adventurous around here. Somehow I got rid of 2 kittens and gained an alpaca. Actually we are delighted to have a sweet alpaca staying with us while some arrangements are made for him at his new home. We're like... a half-way house or maybe a foster home but we only take in fuzzy critters.

Now, when I say we are delighted I mean we as in the people who live here because the goats (and Elmer) are less than impressed. There's been no aggression from anybody but that little scenario up there happens about every 30 minutes. Its like they all forget about the new kid and then they see him again and they all freak. Poor alpaca just wants to stand with the heard but the heard is a bunch of chuckle-heads and keeps moving away.  

He's a shy sort of guy and a bit timid but he's making himself at home. Maybe I can disguise him as goat and tell his new owner that he ran off and thus keep him all to myself.

My apologies to anybody on Facebook who already heard this but its gonna be a little while before the excitement of saying "There's an alpaca in my yard" wears off. 

The fluttering begins...

The fluttering of snowflakes...

  

So far there are just little wimpy flakes falling slowly and with little purpose yet the kids are already talking about boots and sledding. I sort of doubt that this snow will be a sledding snow but still its awfully fun to overhear them chatting so excitedly.

 

I'm a little flaky fluttery myself... at the prospect of a little holiday smocking.

 

 

 

 

A new home...

Well, the little kittens have a new home. They got to go together to live with very nice local people.

To celebrate, and since I'm not ready to post what I'm currently working on, here's a few gratuitous critter picks from around the house...

Toby doing his road-kill impression...

 

Oscar claiming ownership of the tree...

 

A few goats...

 

Zeke says "Hi"...